At the peak of the harvesting season in Northern Kenya, Charles Kamunde would often face a difficult choice: turn away suppliers or buy small quantities he could barely afford.
“I used to face serious cash flow challenges as an aggregator,” he recalls. “There were times I simply didn’t have enough capital to buy gum arabic from collectors.”
For Charles, who supplies gum arabic to Acacia EPZ, the constraint wasn’t demand — it was liquidity. Without enough working capital during critical buying periods, he could not aggregate consistently. The result was lost income opportunities for both his business and the collectors who depended on him.
This challenge is not unique. Across the gum arabic value chain, limited access to affordable finance has quietly constrained growth. Aggregators — who play a crucial role linking collectors to markets — often operate with minimal capital, weakening supply reliability and limiting the income potential of entire communities. When cash is short, households prioritise immediate needs like food, healthcare, and school fees over reinvestment in their livelihoods.
Recognising that finance, not production, was the bottleneck, a new approach was introduced through the Nurture Project. Working with private sector partners, Acacia EPZ and KCB Bank, the initiative focuses on closing the cash flow gap that limits aggregation and trade.
The model creates a structured system that enables aggregators to access affordable, low-risk credit aligned to the realities of the gum arabic harvesting cycles.
At the centre of this approach is the Acacia EPZ, serving as the off-taker, training provider in good quality produce and originator of the prepayment facility model, implemented as a revolving fund facilitated by Swisscontact (Nurture Project), and launched in May 2026. It provides aggregators with accessible financing at low interest rates, enabling buyers like Charles to purchase gum consistently during the collection seasons; stabilising supply chains and strengthening market linkages.
For Charles, access to the KCB prepayment loan facility will change how he operates.
“With the KCB prepayment loan facility, I now have the ability to purchase more gum from collectors,” he explains. “This means higher volumes, better stability, and increased income.”
What was once an unpredictable business is becoming more structured and reliable. With improved cash flow, Charles can maintain consistent relationships with collectors, ensuring they benefit from more stable and timely sales.
Like many others participating in the initiative, Charles is also beginning to diversify his income. By becoming a KCB Mtaani agent, he has added another revenue stream; strengthening his financial resilience and reducing vulnerability to shocks.
The experience highlights a critical lesson: in many rural value chains, growth is not only limited by production capacity but by access to the right financial instruments.
By working through private sector partnerships and aligning financing with market demand, the Nurture Project demonstrates how addressing liquidity constraints can unlock entire value chains. When aggregators are able to operate effectively, the benefits extend outwardly, improving income, stabilising supply, and strengthening rural economies.
This approach points to a broader opportunity.
In regions where smallholder collectors, producers and intermediaries face similar financing barriers, targeted, market-based financial solutions can enable businesses to move from intermittent activity to sustainable enterprises.
As the gum arabic sector continues to grow, closing the financing gap will be essential — not only for individual businesses like Charles’, but for building more resilient and inclusive value chains that support livelihoods on scale.
Want to scale inclusive financing solutions across rural value chains. Contact us through [email protected] to learn more.
This Project is implemented by Swisscontact and funded by Wyss Academy for Nature.